i’ve been paralyzed by trying to think of seven clever weird things about me for two days now. i know the “tag” doesn’t actually say clever, but it just seems like they are better to read when they are clever, you know? my friend took the last two people that we both know in cyberspace who were not already participating in the tag thing, so i guess i’m totally breaking the rule about tagging the next people, and while i’m breaking rules, i’ll go ahead and say that one of my seven things isn’t even true. ha. ha.

1. i got a tattoo when i was 18 of the national japanese flower because i knew then that i wanted to marry my super intelligent, witty, UN-gushy, extremely attractive and well-adjusted husband, who is in fact, half-japanese. the other guy should have known he was in trouble when he said that we would just have to think of something else for that tattoo to “mean” now, and i said, “oh no…it will always mean what it means!” so after a slight case of insanity during which i somehow became engaged to said other guy, i married taido, who will always be mine, mine, mine.

2. the image of children enjoying clean water makes me cry. we went to rural china for six weeks when we had a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old. i experienced the lack of clean water in a way that has stayed with me. i love water, and i actually think about how many people can’t do what i’m doing when i get a glass of water out of my sink and drink it, or wash dishes at my sink without boiling the water first. i cried when i got home from china and i turned on the tap for the first time. a year later, i had the amazing privilege of welcoming a missionary from china into my home who was bringing her baby back to the states because he had been sick because of consuming unclean water too many times. when she came in my house and she turned on my sink, i understood a little bit of how she felt. at the end of the movie, millions, which is such a great movie, kids are playing in clean, running water from a new well in africa and it makes me cry every time i see it.

3. i homeschool. it’s not that weird anymore. but people still look at me funny when i say that i homeschool. there is one person that i see every so often that cannot fail to say every time she sees me that she just cannot believe that i am homeschooling…i just can’t imagine how you can stand doing that…you are so crazy…blah blah blah. she sort of says it all in one breath. it makes me tired. i can’t even begin to explain to her why i homeschool. she reminds me that lots of people still think it is crazy.

4. i really like children. i wanted to have like 15 children, but i got really tired after three and then God snuck one more in. i love my four and i love other peoples’ children. i love my nieces and nephews, and i love it when a child talks to me like i am their friend, like they are really giving me their story just as though i were their age. “and that got me really mad!” there are days i would much rather be with children than adults. i read somewhere when i was trying to decide if i could handle homeschooling that if you could picture yourself as wendy with the lost boys, then you can do it. and i can. i like that picture, actually.

5. also, i could be a hermit. i really like to be alone. i can feel myself going kind of jumpy when i haven’t been alone in a while. if it weren’t for the gospel and Jesus and the whole be salt and light bit, i think i would pretty much have no contact with anyone. actually, if it weren’t for Jesus, i wouldn’t even be here because i would have cashed in my chips a long time ago.

6. i am obsessed with blogs, other peoples’ and my own, proved by the fact that i have 11 other blogs that you don’t even know about. i might have blog schizophrenia.

7. i have a strong aversion to the telephone. i always have. my sister and i sound exactly the same on the phone and she made many phone calls pretending to be me, because i physically couldn’t do it. i actually tried to stop talking on the phone altogether when i was in college. i was reading jane austen and i tried to single-handedly bring back house calls (visits) instead of phone calls. i had some calling cards printed and i would leave them on doorsteps. i think i still have some. anyway, i would always rather see someone or write someone a letter than talk to them on the phone. i just can’t answer it a lot of the time. i keep my home phone unplugged unless i want to use it and my cell phone has been under my pillow for two days because i am trying to finish school and it kept ringing yesterday. i know i could turn it off, but it feels good to me to like punish it for ringing by cramming it under the pillow. and it makes those calls i should be making seem very far away.